Source: Death Penalty Information Center, December 15, 2011
U.S.: Executions, death sentences continue steady declines in 2011
The number of executions and death sentences nationwide continues a steady decline, according to a study released Thursday, matching dwindling public support for capital punishment in general.
Only 78 people have been sentenced to lethal injection so far this year, the 1st time that number has dropped below 100 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Death sentences last year were at 112, and have declined by nearly 75% from 15 years ago, when more than 300 individuals were condemned.
The information center's annual report also showed only 43 people were executed in 2011, down 3 from last year, and a 56% decline from 12 years ago, when nearly a hundred people were put to death.
"This year, the use of the death penalty continued to decline by almost every measure. Executions, death sentences, public support, the number of states with the death penalty all dropped from previous years," said Richard Dieter, the information center's executive director. "Whether it's concerns about unfairness, executing the innocent, the high costs of the death penalty, or the general feeling that the government just can't get it right, Americans moved further away from capital punishment in 2011."
The non-profit organization provides accurate figures and analysis, but opposes use of the death penalty.
A CNN/Opinion Research Poll conducted in October found more Americans for the 1st time in recent memory favor a sentence of life in prison over the death penalty for murderers, 50% to 48%.
That's not to say that Americans want to abolish the death penalty entirely. Other polls have shown majorities generally favor it, but CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said his analysis shows there is a difference between thinking the government should have the death penalty as an option and actually wanting to see it applied.
The decline in the number who prefer the death penalty as the punishment for murder may be related to the growing number who believe that at least one person in the past five years has been executed for a crime that he or she did not commit. In 2005, when a solid majority preferred the death penalty, 59% believed that an innocent person had been executed within the previous 5 years. Now that figure has risen dramatically, to 72%.
The year's highest profile execution dealt with questions of actual innocence. Troy Davis was given a lethal injection in September, ending a years-long battle for the man convicted of killing a Georgia policeman. He drew widespread support for his claims an innocent man was being put to death, after federal and state courts had rejected his calls for a new trial.
Since Davis' conviction in 1991, seven of the nine witnesses against him had recanted their testimony, and no physical evidence was presented linking Davis to the killing of the policeman. However, a federal judge concluded the death row inmate "vastly overstates the value of his evidence of innocence."
A Texas execution in July also attracted international attention. Mexican national Humberto Leal Garcia had been convicted of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl. A world court found the state violated his rights by not giving Leal access to his home country's consulate upon his arrest in 1994, as required by an intentional treaty. U.S. and Mexican officials, along with a variety of human rights groups, urged Texas to delay the execution, but to no avail.
Texas continues to lead the nation as the busiest death penalty state, with 13 executions this year. Alabama was next with 6, and Ohio with 5. No more are scheduled until next month.
34 states have capital laws, but only 13 states carried out that ultimate punishment in 2011. In addition, several states with capital punishment laws failed to sentence anyone to death in 2011, including Indiana, Maryland, Missouri and South Carolina.
Another high-profile murder convict in Pennsylvania saw his death sentence reduced. Prosecutors decided this month not to give Mumia Abu-Jamal a new capital sentencing hearing. He was convicted of murdering Philadelphia police office Daniel Faulkner, but has long claimed his innocence as a victim of what he called a racist criminal justice system. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Illinois this year became the 4th state in 4 years to get rid of the death penalty, while Oregon's Democratic governor stopped 1 execution scheduled for this month and said no more would occur while he is in office.
California voters could decide next year whether to abandon the practice. That state has the highest death row population with 721 people, but no one has been executed there since 2006, when a court-ordered moratorium was declared.
But one state that rarely has applied the death penalty could see 2 notorious killers receive that punishment. Steven Hayes was sentenced to death in December 2010, and a jury this month recommended the same punishment for Joshua Komisarjevsky. They were found guilty of home-invasion killings that left 3 females of a Connecticut family dead. State legislators had contemplated abolishing capital punishment, but these defendants may have caused some rethinking, to allow the practice for only the worst of crimes.
Connecticut and New Hampshire are the only New England states with the death penalty, but only 1 person has been executed in the region since 1960.
Source: CNN, December 15, 2011
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